Observations

IOWA City, IOWA—UFC head Dana White bought out the Strikeforce, eliminating the major competition to his reign and settling the argument, who is the king of MMA.The one advantage of the MMA is that they have one recognized body for fans to focus on.Unlike boxing, where there are enough sanctioning bodies to confuse even the most brilliant of boxing pundits, if not fans, every MMA fans know that to be the king of the sport, you must conquer the UFC! The UFC have been strengthened with additional talents plus they will add the coverage of Showtime, who has featured Strikeforce.White is showing boxing how it is suppose to be done when it comes to promotion.

Sergio Martinez has shown to be a masterful fighter. Martinez, like many great athletes turn boxers, often breaks the rules of boxing depending up their physical prowess.Interesting enough, Max Kellerman noted the Martinez reminded him of another fighter, Roy Jones, a fighter who broke all the rules.Jones, who happens to be Kellerman sidekick on HBO Boxing after Dark, agreed. Martinez best years were hidden in Argentina but since his two fights with Paul Williams including his spectacular second round knockout in their last bout, he has become a star. Martinez began his career late but he was a quick learner and his athletic skills allowed him to develop those skills quickly.

His victory over Dzinziruk showed a work in continuous progress and an ability to adopt.Dzinziruk based his strategy on his jab and was hoping to use his knowledge of the boxing skills and amateur background to defeat the more athletic Martinez. Martinez used his jab to neutralized Dzinziruk and out jabbed a jabber. This allowed him to set up his other arsenals just as straight left and upper cut. Martinez is like a fine wine as he is improving his knowledge of the ring as he get older..

Sometimes in a fighter career, there is that moment where a fighter must decide if he take that next step or see his career slip away.Andy Lee was in that position as he was losing his fight with Craig McEwan.Starting in the second round, McEwan outworked Lee, connecting on three punches to one.Lee looked confused and seemed unable to figure out the onrushing McEwan.

Starting in the seventh round, Lee started to put punches together and slowly changing the tide.Behind going into the ninth, Lee surged as McEwan tired.Despite the being on the receiving end of many punches from McEwan, Lee found the energy to finish the fight and stop McEwan.As ESPN Ted Atlas notes, often a fighter faces that point where he must decide what price he’s willing to pay to win.Lee faced that moment and decided that he would take the onslaught of his opponent for the chance to throw that one fight changing punch, a punch that came near the end of the ninth round before he finished his opponent in the following round.

Least I forget, have any one ever seen a card featuring two events will all southpaw fighters? HBO had two fights featuring two southpaws. This got to be a record.

Miguel Cotto defeated Ricardo Mayorga as he stopped Mayorga in the twelfth round.Cotto maintained his status as a one of the top welterweight and junior middleweights but as for Mayorga, this was the last hurrah.In many ways, the more interesting character in the bout was Mayorga.Mayorga came on the scene in 2002 when he stopped Andrew Lewis and then knocking out the previously undefeated Vernon Forest. After winning a close decision in his rematch with Forest, Mayorga reached his pinnacle.From that point, the colorful Nicaraguan never seem to reach those heights again when he lost to Cory Spinks in a defense of his title and this followed by knock out losses by Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley and now Cotto.Mayorga depended upon his power but never developed the complete skills to beat the very best.

Boxing promoters sometimes never have the wisdom of picking a fight for Pay for View or smart enough not to schedule major events for the same weekend.Cotto-Mayorga fight was better for a Showtime as oppose to a Showtime PPV. And can’t promoters figure out that if HBO have a major card, can’t Showtime wait a week later?Boxing promoters can sometimes be boxing worse enemies when it comes to the promotion of the sport.